Underestimate Me

They neared their destination in silence. Josselyn had been inside her own head for miles now and she was keeping herself locked up internally. Next to her Meredith had moved on with the cadence of her horse, just as mute as her leader. It was as if Josselyn wasn’t even present. She had been so guarded, she had been so distant. As Meredith gazed upon her leader's shoulder, where she knew that retched bird had spiked his sharp hooks into her fair flesh, she could only imagine the redness around the wounds for darkness swallowed them whole.

As they rode on, the silence was broken. The tumultuous sound of water, of falling rain even, was filling the air. It was a deafening sound, even though Meredith knew the sound to be even more horridly thunderous from up close. Josselyn got off her horse. Meredith saw the wincing in her face as she descended and looked around the forest path. Finally her beloved leader spoke again.

“The last stretch of this journey will be on foot, the horses will not travel further. Donkeys can, they know the path.” Meredith followed Josselyn's fixed stare, it was upon Ruth, descending her rowdy young donkey in the middle of the column. Or was she looking at the man that sat on the donkey next to her? Looking at his crumbling physique?

All sisters dismounted their horses and they mustered the creatures around Ruth. She would tend to them and stay outside of the encampment. It was almost like a prolonged watch. Ruth was amazingly skilled when it came to their animal impersonations. She knew every alarm there was to ring and her sound would carry far and distant. The woman loved the solitude with her cattle, thriving on silence that was only broken by neighing or the sound of hooves.

“Ruth will stay,” Meredith said. “We will visit her with foods and supplies, she will not go lonely and she will not be forgotten.” The kind-faced sister nodded at her with gratitude. “The rest of you, we need to proceed.”

They tread the stones that appeared on the forest ground, those and the sound of the falling tears were all that disclosed the waterfall roaring behind the thick coverage of trees. Josselyn was finally moving them there. Finally did she grant her family a piece of her sanctuary. The place she had fallen from the sky as Meredith watched, and lived. The place Maa had appeared before them and Meredith had worshipped a cruel beauty up close.

The stones were slippery when they finally came face to face with the raw force of nature, its sound as vociferous as Meredith could remember. Josselyn led them around the pool of water where the tears would be caught to flow back to the sea. Meredith followed. Turning her head down the string of moving sisters, she spotted their prisoner immediately. He had dismounted his ass too and was struggling over the rocks with his hands still bound. Laila was holding the chain attached to his collar loosely as she herself struggled upon the slippery stones.

Josselyn was at the waterfall, it seemed there was no way to go but up. Up the cliff that cried so violently. She needed only to stretch out her hand and touch the moisture that serviced the moss growing on the cliffs wall. Before her leader could reach it, Meredith caught her by her shoulder. The touch was a soft but urgent one, causing Josselyn to find her eye.

“You truly want to show him this place?” Meredith whispered. Remembering the nights they had spent there and seeing Rowen's face besmirch their holy ground was enough torture to drive this sister crazy.

“This man has seen all of me and betrayed me after. This place is where my family will be safest. It is not me I am thinking about.” Josselyn spoke. Her words made Meredith's face cringe. Rowen had beheld the most painful beauty and taken advantage of it, drawing lines of pain down her body, scarring her in more ways than one. The thoughts of Josselyn's broken skin almost drove Meredith to move down the traveling sisters and kill Rowen for once and for all, but she withheld herself. Josselyn would not love her for it. She would call her a fool.

Josselyn stepped behind the falling water and she disappeared completely. The sisters who had their eyes set on her, looked with worried and shocked faces towards Meredith. Others were still focusing on the rocks they climbed. Meredith smiled a little devilish smile as she disappeared too. The sisters would follow and they would know that the waterfall did not swallow them whole, but brought them into a tunnel. A tunnel that would lead them to paradise. A hidden paradise that only Josselyn and Meredith knew. Their heavenly kingdom.

~~~

It had taken a while longer to set up camp inside the hidden valley. The sisters had been in awe and had not worked as hard as they usually did. They truly believed to have found Zion. Darkness painted hues of blue and purple in the wooded valley, shone on by only stars and the moon. Some fireflies had found their way in and illuminated a variety of colorful flowers that before had all appeared black. The valley was filled with a dusk spicy smell, heavy and intruding. It was drugging the sisters with euphoria as they set up their tents and spoke with excited but hushed voices.

Meredith and Josselyn had entered their tent as soon as it stood. The dark beauty of the valley was no revelation to them. They knew the powers that lived inside these trees, they knew Maa was strong in this place.

When Meredith entered Josselyn was sitting on the bed, her legs resting on the support of her toes. The way she held her legs showed the gracefully long muscles that where covered by creamy skin and scars. The first time Meredith had laid eyes upon Josselyn she had been cutting through the sky as an angel thrown from heaven, cast to the earth. Looking at her now, she was no angel, she was a goddess herself. A goddess that was pulled between dangerous power and perilous vulnerability.

Meredith had lit the candles and a fire. It was casting golden shadows all around the room and warming up the cold ground. Nights were tough, even in the summer, but fire and body heat was sufficient to warm each other. She looked with a sly eye, as her leader dressed down her weaponry and freed herself of the boiled leather that protected her. She was shedding her skins, and leaving only the one that mattered. As she stepped out of the last layer of garments, she quickly covered herself with the sheer white gown that was still spoiled with her red blood.

Meredith took a bowl of water and some cloths, dipping her fingers to scrutinize the temperature. On the way down to their valley she had plucked some herbs and put them in a little pouch. Those she took with her too, as she walked up to her worried sister. Something was still bothering her, a crease was permanent between her eyes, just above her nose. She had not spoken again and she had been glancing toward Rowen for most of the travel. As Meredith sat down on the bed beside her, her muscles tensed, as if she had not noticed her approach.

“What demons are taunting you?” Meredith whispered. She dipped the cloth in water and mixed the herbs with the warm fluid. As Josselyn was searching for words, Meredith gently grabbed the white fabric that covered her sister's shoulder, and drew it down, baring the red spots of pain. The gown fell down a bit and the fair skin upon Josselyn's shoulder and bust appeared. Thick white lines covered the creamy surface as ropes. The places where her white fair skin turned raw.

Tenderly Meredith traced one of the scars that ran from collarbone to the beginning of Josselyn's left breast, her finger was warm and wet from testing the water. A shudder went through her sister and she saw some goosebumps appear. Meredith picked up the cloth and started moistening the holes in Josselyn's shoulder. Dried blood dissolved and left marks on the soft cloth.

“How can you destroy a monster, without becoming a one yourself?” Josselyn whispered, she had turned her face toward Meredith and the despair in her eyes sent arrows through hearts.

“You are not a monster,” Meredith said hushed, dabbing the warm cloth across the holes in her shoulder again. A little drop escaped from the cotton and it and traveled down her body, making its way to her breast to hang from a round perk nipple.

“I can’t get the green eyes of Kolby out of my mind,” Josselyn whispered, desperately grabbing Meredith's arm, the pressure in her grasp surprised the second in command.

Their bodies were touching, seeking refuge in each other. Meredith's blond hair was tickling Josselyn's shoulder and their thighs were brushing side to side. All she wanted to do was to rid her love from these demons. To take away the pain that was in her eyes. She felt the love setting off flames inside of her and she wanted to burn those demons with it. She wanted to scorch Rowen with the fire she was feeling.

The hand that Josselyn was clutching moved to her leader's face, cupping the despair in it. Meredith quietly caressed her thumb across Josselyn's cheekbone. There were no thoughts filling her anymore, only feelings. As she let go of the soft face of her sister, she moved her lips to the little holes that stood proudly on her shoulder. Meredith's full red lips kissed the wounds, touching the pained skin. She wanted her lips to take away the agony Falcon had caused. She wanted her lips to take away the agony that was inside of Josselyn's mind, poisoning her from within.

“Let me get your mind off of things,” Meredith whispered. Her voice was hoarse and filled with passion. She looked up at her beloved. Her dress had dropped from both shoulders now, exposing the tortured torso of her leader. Two firm breasts were sticking out, unplagued with scars, but around them her body was so fragile. As her hand moved up Josselyn's thigh she wanted only one thing.

Josselyn.